READING FOCUS KEY TERMS
TARGET READING SKILL
• How did farming in the South change
after the Civil War?
sharecropping
tenant farming
infrastructure
Identify Supporting Details COpy
below. As you read, fill in details
nomic changes that occurred in the
during Reconstruction.
• How did the growth of cities and industry
begin to change the South's economy after the war? • How was the money designated for
Reconstruction projects used? Labor MAIN IDEA
Farming
The end of slavery brought about new patterns of
agriculture in the South, while expansion of cities
and industry led to limited economic growth.
Setting the Scene
Writing to a South Carolina newspaper
1865, a black soldier in the United States Army stated:
" We have been faithful in the field . .. and think that we ought to be considered as men, and allowed a fair chance in the race of life. It has been said that a black man can not make his own living, but give us opportunities and we will show the whites that we will not come to them for any thing. " -Black Union soldier
VIEWING FINE ART Despite
emancipation, the cotton stili
needed to be picked. This painting
by Winslow Homer (1876) shows
young women in the fields, probably
working just as their mothers had
before tile war, except for some
small wages. Making Comparisons
Compare the details in this painting
to the photograph on the next page.
436
Chapter 12 • Reconstruction
This demand for a "fair chance in the race of life" was echoed by
across the South. For most of them, the key to that fair chance was land.
us our own land and we can take care of ourselves," said one freedm311,
without land, our old masters can hire us or starve us as they please."
As you read in Section 1, proposals to distribute formerly white-owned
to freedmen received little political support. Few freedmen had the money
buy their own land, and even those who did often found that whites refused
sell or rent land to them. As a result, most freedmen had little choice but to
the land of others. They soon discovered, in one
words, that "No man can work another man's land [
getting] poorer and poorer every year." ~.
One black family in Alabama learned this lesson the hard' .
way. The Holtzclaw family worked on the cotton farm of
white planter. Every year at harvest time they received part
the cotton crop as payment for their work. Most years,
ever, the Holtzclaws' share of the harvest didn't earn
enough money to feed themselves. Some years the planter
them nothing at alL To earn more money, Mrs.
worked as a cook, while Mr. Holtzclaw hauled logs at
sawmill for 60 cents a day. Their children waded knee-deep
swamps gathering anything edible. This was not the
they had hoped for.
S. Share
cannc
as lor
debt 1
4.
CbBnges in Farming
Holrzclaws were part of an econo~c ~eorganization. in the "New South" ?f
1'ht 870s. It was triggered by the rallficallon of the Thirteenth Amendment ill
"... 1 which ended slavery and shook the economic foundations of the South.
1S65n,c loss of slave labor raised grave questions for southern agriculture.
. Id cotton still be king? If so, who would work the plantations? Would freed
\\<llli flee rhe South or stay? How would black emancipation affect the poor
."'{If' C
I ..:
laborers of the South? No one really knew.
\\!llte
wanted: Workers Although the Civil War left southern plantations in tat­
.,cr... the destruction was not permanent. Many planters had managed to hang
,.In to their land, and others regained theirs after paying off their debt. Planters
.nlnpbincd, however, that they couldn't find people willing to work for them.
.'\,,body. liked picking cotton in the blaiing sun. It seemed too much like slav­
rn Workers often disappeared to look for better, higher-paying jobs. For
11,,1[1(e, railroad workers in Virginia in the late 1860s earned $1.75 to $2 a
1'1.1Iltarion wages came to 50 cents a day at best. Women in the fields
;ir!lcd as little as 6 cents a day. In simple terms, planters had land but no labor­
I'. \\hile fi'eedmen had their own labor but no land. Out of these needs came
1(\\ p.ltterns of fuming in the South.
Sharecropping The most common new farming arrangement was known as
,harccropping. A sharecropping family, such as the Holtzclaws, farmed some
i" ,rtiOIl of a planter's land. As payment, the family was promised a share of the
':"P .n harvest time, generally one third or one half of the yield. The planter
,1'II.llly provided housing for the family.
Sharecroppers worked under close supervision and under the threat of harsh
1'll!1lsilment. They could be fined for missing a single workday. After the harvest,
'>lIlle dishonest planters simply evicted the sharecroppers without pay. Others
llurgcd the families for housing and other expenses, so that the sharecroppers
"Ill'll wOlmd up in debt at the end of the year. Since they could not leave before
1'l\lIlg the debt, these sharecroppers were trapped on the plantation.
INTERPRETING DIAGRAMS
Whether white or black, most
southern farmers remained poor in
the years following the Civil War­
as did this Florida family (below
right), thought to be sharecroppers
or tenant farmers. The chart (below
left) shows the cycle of debt that
poor families faced. Drawing Con­
clusions How did farmers get caught
in a cycle of debt?
Sharecropping and the Cycle of Debt
1. Poor whites and freedmen have no jobs, no homes, and no money to buy land. 5, Sharecropper
cannot leave the farm
as long as he is in
debt to the landlord.
4. At harvest time,
the sharecropper owes
more to the landlord
than his share of
the crop is worth. 2. Poor whites and
freedmen sign contracts
to work a landlord's
acreage in exchange
for a part of the crop.
3. Landlord keeps track
of the money that sharecroppers owe him for housing and food. Chapter 12 • Section 3
437
American Cotton Production, 1860-1870
4.5
4.0
3.5
til 3.0
c
.2 'E
2.5
2.0
g: iii 1.5
m
1.0
O~-,--.--r--~-+--+--+--,-~~
lBl~1_1El~lel_1E1_1~1~
Year
SOURCE: Historical Statistics of the United States,
Golonia/ Times to 1970
INTERPRETING GRAPHS
Cotton production was the South's
main economic activity until 1930.
Making Inferences What accounts
for the drop in production in the
middle of this graph?
Tenant Farming If a sharecropper saved
money, he might try tenant farming. Like
tenant farmers did not own the land they farm
sharecroppers, however, tenant farmers paid to
land, just as you might rent an apartment tOday.
chose which crops to plant and when and how
work. As a result, the tenant farmers had a
status than sharecroppers .
The Holtzclaws managed to move from
to tenant farming. They rented 40 acres of
bought a mule, a horse, and a team of oxen. William
claw was a child at the time. "'Ve were so happy
prospects of owning a wagon and a pair of
having only our father for boss, that we shouted and
for joy," he later recalled.
Effects on the South Changes in farming
Reconstruction affected the long-term health of the
economy in several important ways:
Changes in the labor force Before the :Civil War, 90
of the South's cotton was harvested by African American slaves. By 1875,
laborers, mostly tenant farmers, picked 40 percent of the crop.
Emphasis on cash crops Sharecropping and tenant farming encouraged
to grow cash crops, such as cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane, rather than
crops. The South's postwar cotton production soon surpassed prewar levels,
a result of the focus on cash crops, the South had to import much ofits
Cycle of debt By the end of Reconstruction, rural poverty was deeply
the South, among blacks and whites alike. Both groups remained in a
debt, in which this year's profits went to pay last year's bills. The
Homestead Act of 1866 attempted to break that cycle by offering low-cost
to southerners, black or white, who would farm it. By 1874, black farmers
Georgia owned 350,000 acres. Still, most landless farmers could not afford
participate in the land-buying program. In the cotton states, only about
black family in 20 owned land after a decade of Reconstruction.
READING CHECK
In What ways did the end of
slavery change agriculture in
the South?
Rise of merchants Tenant farming created a new class of wealthy
the merchants. Throughout the South, stores sprang up around plantations
sell supplies on credit. "We have stores at almost every crossroad," a
observed. By 1880, the South had more than 8,000 rural stores. Some
chants were honest; others were not. Landlords frequently ran their own
and forced their tenants to buy there at high prices.
After four years of tenant farming, the Holtzclaws watched as
carted away everything they owned. "They came and took our corn and,
the vegetables from our little garden, as well as the chickens and the pig,
Holtzclaw said. The family had no choice but to return to sharecropping.
Cities and Industry
Southerners who visited the North after the Civil War were astounded at
industrialized the North had become. The need for large-scale production
war supplies had turned small factories into big industries that dominated
North's economy. Industrialization had produced a new class of wage
438
Chapter 12 • Reconstruction
II hJd
. 'ted city growth and generated wealth. Could all this
19n1
,
n in the Southr !1.lrr: 1C southern leaders saw a unique opportunity for their SonThe)' urged the South to bill'Id a new, m
. dustn'alized
econ­
"I!lllrl.
. ,
f
G d
. : .. One of the pro-busmess VOlCes was that 0 Henry ra y, ,,!II.
. . H e called fcor a "New South" .. of the Atlanta Constztutton.
(',hr t1r
th .. . d
.
,.f.~ro\\-ing cities and flvmg m ustnes.
The Growth of Cities Atlanta, the city so punished by Sher­
,. 'lrn1" took Grady's advice. Only months after the war, "Uil 5,
"
;~c Lity was on its way to becoming a major metropolis of the \Ptll h, as one observer noted: " A new city is springing up with marvelous rapidity. The nar­
row and irregular and numerous streets are alive from morn­
ing till night . .. with a never-ending throng of . .. eager and excited and enterprising men, al/ bent on building and trad­
ing and swift fortune-making. "
-Visitor to Atlanta, 1865
A major focus of Reconstruction, and one of its greatest successes, was the
[,building and extension of southern railroads. By 1872, southern railroads
\len: totally rebuilt and about 3,300 miles of new track laid, a 40 percent
Illtlease. Railroads turned southern villages into towns, and towns into cities
\\ here businesses and trade could flourish. Commerce and population rose not
'>lllv in Atlanta, but also in Richmond, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, Little
IZllCk, Montgomery, and Charlotte. On the western frontier, the Texas towns
,,(Dallas, Houston, and Fort Worth were on the rise.
San Antonio, Texas, prospered fol­
lowing the Civil War as <! mercan­
tile and cattle center. This 1872
photo shows a view of the east
side of Main Plaza.
Limits of Industrial Growth Despite these changes, Reconstruction did not
il,lIlstorm the South into an industrialized, urban region like the North. Most
'iluthern factories did not make finished goods such as furniture. They handled
0111)' the early, less profitable stages of manufacturing, such as producing
lumber or pig iron. These items were shipped north to be made into finished
products and then sold.
Most of the South's postwar industrial grmvth came from cotton
mills. New factories began to spin and weave cotton into undyed fabric.
rhe value of cotton mill production in South Carolina rose from about
>713,000 in 1860 to nearly $3 million by 1880. However, the big
Achievements of Black Legislators
profits went to northern companies that dyed the fabric and sold the
Thomas E. Miller defended the work of
liilished product.
the South Carolina legislature in which
Focus on
C I. T I' ZEN: SHIP Funding Reconstruction
rile Republicans who led Congress agreed with southern legislatures
the importance of promoting business. The strong conviction that
the growth of business would bring better times for everyone was
called ilie "gospel of prosperity." It guided the Reconstruction efforts
of Congress and the Reconstruction legislatures throughout the 1870s.
()Il
RaiSing Money In a sense, the postwar South was one giant business
OPPortunity. The region's infrastructure, the public property and serv­
ices iliat a society uses, had to be almost completely rebuilt. That
Illcluded roads, bridges, canais, railroads, and telegraph lines. In
addition to the rebuilding effort, some states used Reconstruction funds
he served: "We had built school
houses, estab­
lished charitable
institutions ...
rebuilt bridges
and reestab­
lished ferries. In
short, we had
reconstructed the State and placed it
upon the road to prosperity.» The litho­
graph above shows seven African
Americans who were elected to the
United States Congress.
Chapter 12 • Section 3
439
to expand services to their citizens. For instance, following th,
North's example, all southern states created public school sy,
terns by 1872.
Reconstruction legislatures poured money into infrastru(
ture. Some of the money came from Congress and from private
investors. The rest, however, was raised by levying heavy tax~\
on individuals, many of whom were still deeply in debt from
war. White southerners, both wealthy and poor, resented
added financial burden. Spending by Reconstruction legisl,).
tures added another $130 million to southern debt. What fur
ther angered southerners was evidence that much of this bi"
spending for infrastructure was being lost to corruption.
i:"
Corruption The laws and business methods of an earlier n,\
simply could not control corruption in a time of such massil l
change and growth. During Reconstruction, enormous SUlll\
of money changed hands rapidly in the form of frauduk 11 I
loans and grants. Participants in such schemes included blacK\
and whites, Republicans and Democrats, southerners and
northern carpetbaggers. "You are mistaken if you suppose that all the evils.
result from the carpetbaggers and negroes," a LQuisiana man wrote to .1
northern fellow Democrat. Democrats and Republicans cooperated "when
ever anything is proposed which promises to pay," he observed. The Sou III
Carolina legislature even gave $1,000 to the Speaker of the House to COIll
his loss on a horse race!
Scandal and corruption also reached to the White House. Late in Grall! \
first term, a scandal emerged involving the Credit Mobilier Company. Crnhl
Mobilier had been set up by the owners of the Union Pacific Railroad to built!
their portion of the transcontinental railroad westward from Omaha. Th,
Union Pacific gave the Credit Mobilier enormous sums offederal money. Whil,
some of this money paid for work, much of it went into the pockets of [ile
Union Pacific officers and politicians who were bribed into ignoring the fraud
INTERPRETING POLITICAL
CARTOONS This cartoon, which
appeared in Harper's Weekly in
1876, poked fun at President
Grant's promise to "get to the
bottom" of the corruption in gov­
ernment. Making Inferences What
does the cartoon imply about
Grant's ability to investigate and
put an end to corruption?
Section
3
READING
COMPREHENSION
CRITICAL THINKING
AND WRITING
1. Why did planters have trouble find­
6. Predicting Consequences Why did
sharecropping and tenant farming
encourage planters to grow cash
crops rather than food crops? What
impact might this have had on
people living in poverty?
ing people to work for them?
2. How did sharecropping and tenant
farming differ?
3. How did railroads contribute to the
growth of cities?
4. Why was southern industrial growth
limited?
5. What were the sources of funding
for Reconstruction programs?
440
I
Assessment
Chapter 12 • Reconstruction
7. Creating an Outline Create an out­
line for an essay in which you
explain why the physical reconstruc­
tion of the South was necessary.
rGo ,"'nline
-PHS&hooI.C' .
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